Thursday, April 23, 2009

The OTAslug fest over booking fees continues today - Expedia has apparently (and quietly) stopped adding additional fees into the "taxes and fees" section as a result of Orbitz removing them yesterday. Expedia claimed to the press they would remain competitive and, indeed, they have.

Until now, while the "base" price of a hotel room on Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia (and supplier sites) was usually the same, the OTAs often added additional fees into a murky line during the booking process labeled "taxes and fees." Consumers didnt pay much attention to these fees, assuming that they were not optional or a subject of competition. All that changed yesterday when Orbitz began breaking out the total all-in price on the first search results page - something even the hotel supplier sites don't currently do.

Yesterday, we shared the following price comparison which clearly showed the differences between the OTAs (and supplier sites) when the "all-in" price was compared:

Today, pricing seems to have equalized across the channels with Expedia coming in line with the competition. Consider the Paramount in New York for this Sunday night:

Paramount website $151.40Orbitz.com $150.80Expedia.com $150.07

(Note: Priceline was $299 and Travelocity was $160.33 showing the importance of shopping around - but that isn't the point here)

Or consider the same Hilton New York on Sunday, May 10th:

Hilton.com $162.31Orbitz.com $161.94Expedia.com $162.23

What is critical is that Expedia has effectively taken a hatchet to their margins. The difference could be as much as a 12 point drop in the Hilton example above. Clearly, Expedia is not about to cede share and is determined to remain competitive - the open question is what the effect will be on Expedia's hotel margins.